Golf: Athletics vs. Academics, The Balance

Image Courtesy: TaylorMade

Picture a young man in July. Just made his school golf team and has not a clue what he is getting himself into. He thought that he did. The papers and disclosures said that he would be playing tournaments during school, though he had no clue and no worries about it. Golf season kicked off in August and he thought life was treating him pretty well. Then, school hit. September came and tournaments and practice were not the easiest thing for him anymore. Nor was his academics.

I learned quickly that I had to do something about my school work. I missed the first day of
school for a tournament which did not help at all. However, this leads me to my first point. When on a team or sporting activity, you should let your teachers know that you will be missing school at least one to three weeks in advance. You should not be quiet about it and have them find out the day of in an email that will be sent out from your coach. Though this is perfectly acceptable, it will not give you the best reputation. Let your teachers know, even if it has to be done before school starts. This will allow your teachers to understand that though you are on a sports team you still care and value your education. This is a good message to send, even if you aren't too

Image Courtesy: PowerSchool

serious about education. A good reputation can never hurt. 

Despite letting your teachers know, you should come up with a schedule and plan of attack. Golf is and was hard, golf is a hard sport to play with school going on. I understand that playing other sports can be tough with school, though I can assure you golf is hard. In other sports you rarely miss a whole day of school to go to a tournament. In golf tournaments last anywhere from three to five hours with another hour or two of driving. Practices also last at least one to three hours depending on what is being done. Golf is tough and if you have time management issues, or you have never had to manage your time, like I did, then here is something that I hope will help. To start off, you need a plan of action. How will you go about studying and doing homework after practice? It is simple. You need at least an hour of time after practice to do homework. It really is not that hard. An hour of sitting down and finishing all your homework is easy and then you have the rest of the day to do whatever you would like. I was really good at doing this during the first quarter and throughout the golf season. However when golf ended, so did my time management. So in a way, the stress that sports will put on you can help. Use it to your advantage. It is possible and will help. Along with time management, know your priorities. Understand that some assignments may be worth more than others and those are the ones that should be done first. 

Balancing athletics and academics is certainly not as hard as it seems though doing so can cause stress. Honestly, if someone as "smart" (extreme sarcasm) as me can do it, so can you. Remember, that as as important as sports especially golf can be, your education should always be your number one priority. A teacher once told me "Academics before athletics." This has really stuck with me and I find it to be true. Let me know if this helps. What should I blog about next?